On January 31, KBS made an official announcement on reasons why they decided not to air the TV series City Conquest through their network.

KBS said, “We are very sorry that the production company for the series insists that our decision is an arrogation. They even said that we are feeling constraint in the new government, which is completely not true.”

“We held four meetings to review the series and whenever the series receives suspension we asked the production crew to make up for the weak points in the series.”

“However, the recent proposal that they handed in for the latest meeting is insufficiently competitive and contains a lot of violence to air through public broadcasters. That’s why we decided not to air the series,”

“We clearly stated on the letter that if the script for the series is insufficiently competitive, it is not allowed to air. Even though we made the decision through our official system, the production company is insisting that we are feeling constraint in the new government. They also used an expression on defamation of character.”

KBS added, “We are determined to sternly deal with the insist that the production company made.”

Kim Hyun Joong's drama 'City Conquest' was originally scheduled for a time slot with KBS but was recently rejected for what the production company is claiming "government intervention". In a press release, they detail all of the demands KBS made, including switching out script writers, editing the scripts, switching out parts of the cast, etc, which they all complied with out of pressure.

In the end, KBS decided to drop the drama all together after a certain switch of power in the higher ups. "KBS officials told us that the reason they could not air the drama was because despite its superior content and business potential, the depiction of violence was not the right fit for a time when the government is making a new start."

KBS came out with their own statement saying that their claims are unfounded. "The drama features too much violence and revenge themes and makes a mockery out of the police. We thus felt that it was inappropriate for broadcast."